Beneficiaries smile ear to ear as PM Manmohan Singh gives them key to house

CHANDIGARH: A beaming Akhtar Ali showed with pride the keys of the one-room tenement that he and his wife had received from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday. A resident of a colony in Sector 52, Ali was among the 10 beneficiaries who received the keys Saturday. Several hundred others keenly inspected the houses that they were to be allotted.

The tenements have been constructed for the people from the slums as part of the slum rehabilitation scheme of JNNURM, with the aim of making a slum-free city. The Administration had identified 10 beneficiaries who would receive the keys from the PM. Along with their wives, they went on to the stage to collect their keys and allotment letters.

Ali says, “I had not ever dreamed that I would get the keys of my house from the Prime Minister. It is a moment of a lifetime. I would be shifting here with my family within the next few days.” Similar views were shared by another beneficiary Mohd Hakim.

Amidst a section of the residents of colony number 5 expressing opposition to the tenements, a resident of the area, Dharminder Kumar, who got the keys from the PM said he was satisfied with the house allotted to him, where he would be shifting with his wife and four children. “I feel that there is sufficient space in the houses. It is the personal view of some that these are inadequate. The conditions are far better than what we have in the colony,” he said.

The excitement among the other beneficiaries was also palpable. While some were yet to receive the keys, the others had ventured to take a peek at the houses. The houses were thoroughly inspected by the people.

The water and electricity connections are yet to be provided in these houses. These formalities are expected to be completed in the coming days. Officials said that at present, water metres are not being provided and this would be done within the next few months.

Since a substantial population is set to shift to Dhanas within the next few weeks, the infrastructure for civic amenities is being readied.

LUDHIANA: BL Kapoor Hospital at Matarani Chowk is not the only property under the scanner for not paying charges of land on lease. Out of the 23 properties mentioned in the MC list, files of about seven properties are missing, with the MC lagging behind in collecting charges from them.

LUDHIANA: The new policy of the Punjab government to regularize illegal colonies in the state has triggered a debate among residents and the municipal corporation. Residents are confused about being asked to get their properties registered after so long.

DELHI: India has its own unique and integral complexities and business is not an exception to it. Corporations strive for increased efficiency and productivity amidst these complexities. Real estate is an integral ingredient in the formation and growth of all businesses and steadily maturing into a big business itself.

MUMBAI: A common saying goes, to know "stress", organize a person's marriage or endeavor to build a house. Consider the various factors which affect the decision on the purchase or building of a house, they range from vastu, legal documentation, anticipated appreciation in value and maybe even the whims and fancies of the relatives. Clearly, factors which may cost a common man, seeking to obtain a roof over his head, many a nights sleep. Well, thanks to the Finance Act, 2013, the stress has been

MUMBAI: The Real Estate Regulator Bill which was recently approved by the union cabinet, has been several years in the making now and hasn’t had smooth sailing from the start. Apart from inordinate delays, it faced much resistance from the real estate fraternity at initially who were afraid that this Bill would prove to be yet another regulatory bottleneck, rather than a regulation that would empower the industry and its homebuyers.

MUMBAI/DELHI: K. Ramchand, managing director at one of India's biggest road builders, is doing something unusual to help dispel the gloom pervading much of the country's infrastructure sector today: bidding for new projects.